Marion County Schools inspire young minds with inaugural interactive festival
FAIRMONT, W.Va. (WBOY) — Hundreds of families and students in Marion County and around the area got to explore nearly every interest you could think of at Saturday's inaugural Science, Technology, Engineering Arts, and Mathematics (STEAM) & Career and Technical Education (CTE) festival, hosted by East Fairmont Middle School.
The event was years in the making but planning started in August, with a total cost of about $15,000. Grants and donations from local businesses and organizations helped to make it possible. East Fairmont Middle School Principal Debbie Conover told 12 News why the event was important.
'If these things aren't out there and available for kids to see, where else are they going to see it?'
Kaitlyn Knight, a North Marion High School Math teacher and STEAM festival coordinator, originally started a similar event three years ago that was a success and she dreamt of making it bigger and available to as many students as possible in the county.
'I think that's really the beauty of it, that there is something for everyone and they will find something that they're interested in,' Knight said. 'Because that's kind of our goal in education is to find things kids are interested in to help them learn.'
Students and their families got to do plenty of hands on learning by operating robots, going into immersive spaces like the Starlab, looking inside a brain that's suffered a traumatic brain injury, learning about bees, birds and other animals and much more.
Disc golf gets people outdoors for a cause in Fairmont
Middle school STEAM Instructor and Coordinator Margie Suder was happy students participating.
'I think that it's hands on and a lot of students who don't play school very well are very good with their hands and their thinking and their creativity, and their critical thinking and so this is a way for them to express that, this is a way for them to build and it's OK to make mistakes and that's exactly what engineers do, is make mistakes and then learn from them.'
'To get those students engaged thinking about all these scientific, math, processes that they work with and really just to teach them to be better thinkers and more innovative in their everyday journeys,' Jamie Knight, an elementary STEAM teacher for Marion County Schools said.
Plans for next year's event are already underway with organizers saying it will be even bigger and better, set to return to the middle school.
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